New Year's resolutions are mostly pointless. We list a hundred and they never make it very far out of the blocks. We are 13 days into the new year and half of America's resolutions fell by the wayside a week ago. We're all sitting on our sofas, gearing up for the next season of "Idol" and lamenting about the loss of our "spring break body" workout plan. We're eating Chunky Monkey. We're feeling guilty. And that is no way to start off a new year.
Jump back, America! Maybe keeping these resolutions isn't the point. Maybe it's enough just to take a little time for introspection. A little time to evaluate our lives and admit that there are things we could improve upon. The first step is admitting the problem, right? So maybe just making the resolutions makes us a success.
I'm not saying we should be purposeless blobs of calories who are more concerned about Simon's snappy comebacks than our own goals and aspirations...I'm just saying we can cut ourselves a little slack. Perhaps we should start having a "New Year's evaluation" instead of resolutions. (Though, that sounds more like a test and fills me with stress just thinking about it...)
We can come at this new year with all the determination in the world, but the fact is that life happens. Our lists are too long, our time is too short, and we are bound to end up discouraged. It's impossible to accomplish anything that way. What can we do?
Set more realistic goals.
Craft a small-ish list that includes short-term and long-term goals. Throw a couple freebies on there for yourself. "I will smile more" or "I will take out the trash sooner." These are just subjective enough to work! Even if you don't quite make it to some of your loftier goals, you can check something off the list and not feel like a total failure.
Add a few fun goals on there too. Some stop-and-smell-the-roses sort of things to keep you grounded. Like, "Once every few months I'm going to visit a puppy store, just to make myself smile" or "If I start getting too weighed down by stress this year, I am going to stop what I'm doing and skip all the way around the block." Who can be stressed skipping around the block? You look too hilaroius to worry about anything else.
My solution to the resolution nightmare is to make a series of very vague goals for myself to accomplish in the next 12 months. That way if I slack off for a few days, I don't beat myself up...but there is still a list for me to check. As a "Type A," I love to check off that list. Even if the task is "brush your teeth," if I can cross it off a list, it suddenly becomes greatly significant to me.
Here are my vague and forgiving goals for 2010 (in no particular order):
1. Blog more. (Success already--I'm blogging now!)
2. Write something of significance. Even if it is only significant to me or my close friends and family. (See, subjectivity is the key)
3. Make a conscious effort to add new artists to my iTunes library and new authors to my bookshelf.
4. Bring back words like "darling," "lovely," "brilliant," "charming," and "dear." I think they are, well, charming. Quaint. Fresh.
5. Read Anna Karenina. I've been meaning to for months. It will happen before 2011.
6. Finally figure out what all this health care mumbo-jumbo is and just what the hell is actually going on with our economy. (And I'm not asking for opinions, folks. I want facts.)
7. Get my degree this May. Before the snow melts I will take that stupid Environmental Science CLEP test and finally be rid of Spring Arbor University (except for the massive monthly withdrawal they will continue to make from my bank account. Ugh.)
8. Eat healthier--if we can afford it. And exercise--if I feel like it. I refuse to weigh myself unless my clothes don't fit. Who cares? I'll work out if I feel unhealthy. (For example, I could probably use a little cardio now and again...)
9. Continue to work on the screenplay that I was not inspired enough to finish for my undergrad degree. Maybe I'll start a new one, too. And write a short story. And some poetry. Basically, just get over my lazy self already and write something. Anything. Pen to paper.
10. Pay more attention. Half the time I don't write because I "have nothing to write about." That's a bunch of crap. There is so much material all around me. People are absolutely unpredictable and beauty is lurking everywhere. I just have to sneak up and catch it in the act.
